Sports Law Institute

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​​​​​​​​​​​​Sports law encompasses a wide range of legal topics, including antitrust, labor, intellectual property/licensing, contracts, commercial law, business law, immigration law, property, torts, and criminal law. That breadth makes sports law an excellent device fo​r studying the law. Sports law is also a valuable learning tool because it presents complex legal issues in fact-patterns that students generally find appro​achable and under​​standable.

The Sports Law Institute (SLI) at Vermont Law School serves as an educational, research, and professional vehicle for exploring connections between law and sports. The SLI engages in original research, promotes experiential learning and employment opportunities for VLS students and alumni, and connects the VLS community with academic and professional sports law activities.​​​

Alumni in Sports Law

Christal Cuadra '10 (Assistant Director of NCAA Rules Compliance at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and extern at the NCAA Eligibility Center).

Andrew Delaney '10 (Cofounder National Sports and Entertainment Law Society)

Kevin Ryan is an attorney who serves as Director of Education and Communication for the Vermont Bar Association. He has coached basketball and baseball at Northfield (VT) High School and presently is the assistant baseball coach at Norwich University.​

On the eve of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the Sports Law Institute hosted a p​anel discussio​n about how climate change continues to jeopardize the winter sports industry both globally and in New England. The symposium, titled "Brown Slopes, Bare Trails,” included a climate scientist as well as ski operators and snowmakers: scientist Elizabeth Burakowski, PhD; Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association; Ian Jarrett, vice president of HKD Snowmakers, a Massachusetts company that manufactures and supplies energy-efficient snowmaking technology; and Michael Hussey, director of Rikert Nordic Center at Middlebury College. Vermont Law School Professor Brian Porto, director of the Sports Law Institute, moderated.​​​​​